Spring 2015: New Cuisine Reads

Three new books that examine the past and present of Louisiana food

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Hungry for Louisiana: An Omnivore’s Journey (LSU Press)

My favorite quote from food writer Maggie Heyn Richardson’s new book, Hungry for Louisiana: An Omnivore’s Journey (LSU Press), is the following:

“You cannot overwork the rice,” Jody says. “I tell people you have to think of the grains like kids at a spend-the-night party. Check on them carefully. Don’t get them too riled up.”

This delightful gem is from one of Richardson’s interview subjects, describing how to achieve perfect “popped” rice, the necessary component of award-winning jambalaya. With a careful, journalistic style that approaches storytelling, Richardson takes us on an a trip around South Louisiana to reveal the intersections of history, geography, and culture in discussing some of Louisiana’s most iconic, recognizable food fetishes: crawfish, oysters, Creole cream cheese, filé, snoballs, gumbo, blood boudin, tamales, and, of course, jambalaya. The book, which accommodates the “outsider” with guides to pronunciation and details that are commonly known or understood by locals, still contains a fount of interesting information—you only thought you knew everything there is to know about crawfish. Richardson has a knack for bringing the landscape of local food traditions to life.

Fun, Funky & Fabulous: New Orleans’ Casual Restaurant Recipes (Pelican Publishing)

New Orleans equals food—of that the entire world is abundantly aware. But the bulk of the attention is paid to the heavyweights, both classic and (relatively) new: Antoine’s, Galatoire’s, Commander’s Palace, Tableau, Pêche. But New Orleans’ food culture is alive in the best sense: there are creative chefs innovating and inventing the future of Louisiana food—the cuisine that reflects modern sensibilities; what may become, in three decades’ time, the next generation of classics. In her new recipe book, Fun, Funky & Fabulous: New Orleans’ Casual Restaurant Recipes (Pelican Publishing), New Orleans native Jyl Benson mines her impressive knowledge of the food landscape and her deep network of connections to offer a collection of recipes from these cutting-edge chefs. Scrumptious photography by Sam Hanna starts the stomach rumbling. Though squarely a recipe book, offering up appetizer, entrée, and dessert options (shrimp and tasso tacos with pickled okra and pepper jelly from Nate Kelley of Juan’s Flying Burrito; chilled crab and cappellini salad from Isaac Toups of Toups’ Eatery; pretzel bread pudding from David Gotter of GG’s Dine-O-Rama), Benson peppers the book with a variety of stories that only a food insider could offer. Look for a remembrance about Bill Clinton at a James Carville dinner party, the origin story of Scot Craig’s CNN blackberry and jalapeño ribs, or the comeback of Dunbar’s Soul Food following Katrina. 

Southeast Louisiana Food: A Seasoned Tradition (The History Press),

Addie K. Martin and Jeremy Martin have written a decidedly thorough account of South Louisiana’s fisheries culture, Southeast Louisiana Food: A Seasoned Tradition (The History Press), though the geographic boundaries of the South Louisiana they discuss are narrower than the colloquial understanding. The parishes they examine are bounded by Vermilion and Lafayette parishes in the west, encompass the parishes that lie in the Atchafalaya Basin as far north as Pointe Coupee, and include all the parishes west and south of the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain. These are the water parishes, the ones that exist in the marshy, swampy, bayou-strewn reaches of the state. While food traditions are discussed and a few recipes offered, the book is a larger examination of the marine-based occupations of this region. Buttressed by a lengthy bibliography and interviews, the Martins make mention of all the contributing immigrant and ethnic populations to Louisiana fisheries; but the book focuses predominantly on the Cajun culture to elucidate the interplay of culture, history, occupation, ecology, food, governmental policy, and environment and how they all inform a distinct and endangered way of life.